CHICAGO — Cedric Alexander, one of three finalists for the vacant Chicago Police Department superintendent's job, has publicly criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel's actions in the Laquan McDonald shooting.
Writing for CNN in February, Alexander called out Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez for delaying the release of the video showing police shooting McDonald 16 times on Pulaski Road in Archer Heights.
"Official evasion, deception and delay have made a terrible event corrosive and destructive," Alexander, the public safety director for DeKalb County, Georgia, wrote. "When the news is bad, our leaders have a duty to deliver it. Whether the news is bad for us or bad for them, they need to disclose it, fast and in full. Bad news does not improve with age."
Alexander, which the Sun-TImes described as the "front runner" for the job, has provided commentary for CNN on police misconduct cases.
In his essay, Alexander recounts the shooting of McDonald by Chicago Officer Jason Van Dyke, now charged with firing 16 times at the 17-year-old and killing McDonald in October of 2014. The city refused to release the video of the incident, citing an ongoing investigation, until November of 2015, after free-lance journalist Brandon Smith sued and won.
"For months, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez fought a reporter's lawsuit seeking release of the police dashcam video. They fought right up to the time a judge ordered its release. Mere hours before it was released, Alvarez charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder," he wrote.
"We don't know if the video is the truth. But after 13 months of deliberate delay, during which other evidence may have been suppressed, tampered with or destroyed, it is certainly the closest thing we have to the truth.
"And this is very wrong and very bad — for the victim and his family, for Chicago's poor neighborhoods of color, for every neighborhood in every American city. It is wrong and it is bad for the great majority of Chicago police officers, who do a hard and dangerous job that has now been made harder and more dangerous. It is wrong and bad for police officers everywhere, who need the trust of the community. It is wrong, bad and dangerous for every American community, which have the right to feel confident in the police whose duty it is to protect them," Alexander wrote.
He notes that "what happened will not be good for many who now hold high office in Chicago" — and, indeed, Alvarez has lost her bid for reelection. "Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has already lost his job, and can anyone believe it will end there?" Alexander wrote.
Under the process, the board nominates candidates and submits them to the mayor. Emanuel will decide who the new superintendent will be with the approval of the City Council. The mayor would only tell reporters last week, "I'm eager to meet them." Emanuel could reject all three candidates.
